Beautifully restored, pampered and loved 1963 Chrysler Imperial Crown Hardtop.

Description for Chrysler Imperial 1963

This is a beautifully restored and maintained, highly optioned four door hardtop, an example of the best that Chrysler fielded to compete with Cadillac and Lincoln. It is equal or better in quality of materials and quality of construction to its competitors and surpasses them in ride quality, braking, handling and sheer joy of ownership. With its pushbutton automatic transmission, elliptical steering wheel, futuristic modern design and space age instrumentation enveloped in a smooth sumptuous body, it stands out as the epitome of early 1960's American luxury. The attention to detail in both the interior and exterior design work is a feast for the eyes, This Imperial Crown Southhampton was delivered new to the Chrysler Dealership in Salisbury, North Carolina and displayed in the one car showroom of the dealership until purchased by a local businessman and his wife. I purchased it from the widow in 1981 and it was my daily driver for a completely reliable 8 years then retired for a good quality re-paint, re-chrome, re-upholstery and mechanical refurbishment. It then spent two years on display in the Automotive Collection at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina, just 10 minutes from my home and its selling dealership. A close friend who greatly admired the car purchased it from me and lovingly cared for it for a few years until I re-purchased it 8 years ago. It resides in a beautiful carriage house style garage/display building on my property known by locals as the Garage - ma - Hal. The car is still beautiful inside and out and is a great and dependable runner and a delight to drive. It is not perfect but a combination of original and restored condition that has been driven and enjoyed and carefully preserved. It has almost new radial tires and recent new factory spec rear leaf springs. A few of the power options including the A/C are not currently working but could be put in order easily. There is one paint blemish below the rear deck lid (in Chrysler speak, the Flight Swept Deck) and is shown in one of the pictures. The passenger side sun visor has pulled apart at the stitching as shown in the picture and one of the tufted seat buttons is missing, also pictured. All four door panels are original and in exceptional condition (these often sag or wrinkle with age). All of the glass is in very good condition and is original. The headliner is original and is excellent. Note that the re-upholstery work done in the 1990's is absolutely factory correct. The fabric and leather are absolutely correct. The very complicated stitching and tufting of the seat fabric perfectly matches the original and was costly and difficult to achieve and required transport to a first-class upholstery shop in Ohio known for such quality detailed workmanship. So many cars of this vintage have been ruined with second class simplified workmanship and incorrect fabrics or design. My car is spot on correct and would be very hard to duplicate in today's shrinking market of craftspeople and materials. Thank you for your consideration.